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Flights have been grounded across the US after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop.
Thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled due to the issue, which is the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023 and the second since the September 11 attacks. It comes less than two weeks before Thanksgiving on 26 November.
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“The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue,” said US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Air Route Traffic Control Centres (ARTCCs), known outside the US as Area Control Centres or en-route centres, handle high-altitude air traffic en route between airport approaches and departures. In Australia, there are two such centres in Melbourne and Brisbane, while the US has 22 in total.
There is no indication that the issue is due to a cyber attack, according to US law enforcement, while an “aviation source” told CNN that air traffic control radars and radio frequencies have gone out at the same time, with controllers having no “clarity” on the cause.
US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that there was also no indication it was related to the Microsoft outage earlier this week, which disrupted tools such as Outlook, Teams, and other products relied upon by government and businesses.
“I don’t see any reason to connect those two at all. Those are separate issues,” he said.
In an update on social media, the FAA said flights had been halted as a safety precaution.
“There has been a temporary telecommunications outage – out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis,” the agency said.
Congressional Democrats are calling for investigations, with Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, ranking member of the Aviation Subcommittee, saying she will be “demanding answers” from the FAA.
“The safety of our skies is built on redundancies. Whatever led to the nationwide ground stop will warrant a thorough and complete investigation,” she said.
The last nationwide ground stop, on 11 January 2023, lasted for 90 minutes and was caused by a “damaged database file” in the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, delaying more than 10,000 flights. The NOTAM system has reportedly since been updated.
This story is developing.
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